James McAvoy Teases Stylish London Crime Thriller Welcome To The Punch

Welcome to the Punch is a British import that arrives in theaters on March 27. It marks the second directorial effort of an up-and-comer named Eran Creevy, yet very little is known about it at this point despite the fact that it has James McAvoy (Atonement, X-Men: First Class) in the lead. What part does he play? And what is the story about? A number of those questions are answered in this new featurette for the crime noir, shared by Empire:

Empire drops a number of impressive directorial influences when it talks about Creevy’s approach to his follow-up to Shifty. They name drop Michael Mann and Andrew Lau, pointing at Heat or Infernal Affairs (which was remade as The Departed by Martin Scorsese). That’s obviously a high standard, and we can’t expect Punch to live up to such lofty expectations. But if it does …

McAvoy goes a little bit further to distance himself from what he refers to a “British” film, clarifying, “We’re not trying to go, ‘This is the real world.’ We're going, ‘Here's a fuckin' rip-roaring, really emotionally powerful piece of entertainment,’ you know?”

Yes, we do. And now we’re enthused. Punch casts McAvoy as a London detective who gets one last crack at a notorious criminal (Mark Strong) after he returns to town following a botched heist. It has real potential. We’ll find out how well it works in a few weeks.